Ethereal-dev: Re: [ethereal-dev] IS IPX a Network layer protocol, or below the network layer,

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From: Gilbert Ramirez <gram@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 07:33:41 -0600
On Mon, Feb 21, 2000 at 11:12:38PM -0600, Guy Harris wrote:
> 
> 
> > I am having trouble visualizing and explaining where IPX sits in the DoD
> > model or the OSI model.
> 
> I'd call it a network layer protocol, at the same place in the layer
> cake as IP or OSI CLNP, for example.

Yes, that's right. At the same layer as IP. IPX acts like a combination
IP and UDP, in that an IPX packet has a network number, indicating
the ethernet segment or token-ring ring, a MAC address indicating the
individual NIC, and a "socket" number, which is like a UDP port.

SPX in turn is like TCP. It is stream-oriented, and rides on top
of IPX.
 
> > I have heard it said that IPX is not routable,
> 
> >From whom?  Perhaps they're thinking of NetBEUI Framing, or whatever the
> NetBIOS-atop-802.2-Type-2 protocol is called; that isn't routable (host
> addresses are MAC addresses), but IPX is routable.

Correct. Most popular routers, at least the ones I'm familiar with,
route both IP and IPX.

--gilbert